Proverbs

CLV(i)1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:"
2 To know wisdom and discipline, To comprehend sayings of understanding,
3 To procure the discipline to act intelligently In justice and judgment and equities,
4 To give to the simple, prudence, To youth, knowledge and foresight--"
5 The wise one may also hear and add to his education, And the man of understanding may acquire skills--"
6 To understand proverb and puzzle, The words of the wise and their enigmas."
7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; The foolish despise wisdom and discipline.
8 Hear, my son, the admonition of your father, And do not abandon the law of your mother."
9 For they are a wreath of grace for your head, And necklaces for your throat."
10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not comply with them;"
11 If they say, Do walk with us, Let us wait in ambush for blood, Let us lurk gratuitously for the innocent,
12 Like the unseen, we shall swallow them up alive, And robust like those descending to a crypt,
13 All precious wealth shall we find, We shall fill our houses with loot,
14 Let your lot be cast in our midst, There shall be one purse for us all,
15 My son, do not walk in the way with them; Withhold your foot from their track."
16 For their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed blood."
17 For gratuitously is the net tossed Before the eyes of all the possessors of wings.
18 Yet they themselves wait in ambush for their own blood; They lurk for their own souls.
19 Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; It takes away the soul of its possessors.
20 Wisdom is jubilating in the street; In the squares she is giving forth her voice.
21 At the top of the walls she is calling; At the portals of the gates in the city she is speaking her words:
22 How long, O simple ones, shall you love simplicity, And mockers covet their mocking, And the stupid hate knowledge?
23 May you turn back at my correction; Behold, let me utter what is in my spirit to you; Let me make known my words to you."
24 Because I called, and you refused, I stretched out my hand, and no one attended,
25 And you renounced all my counsel, And you would not heed my reproof,
26 Indeed, I myself shall ridicule you in your calamity; I shall deride when alarm comes upon you,
27 When alarm comes upon you like a tumult, And calamity, it arrives upon you like a sweeping whirlwind, When distress and constraint come upon you."
28 Then they shall call me, yet I shall not answer; They shall seek me early, yet shall not find me."
29 Because they hated knowledge And would not choose the fear of Yahweh,
30 They would not heed my counsel, They spurned all my correction,
31 Thus they shall eat of the fruit of their way, And they shall be surfeited with the results of their counsels."
32 For the instability of the simple, it shall kill them, And the carelessness of the stupid, it shall destroy them."
33 Yet whoever is hearkening to me shall tabernacle in trust, And he will be tranquil, away from alarm of peril."